Habitat - Indoor :: Snails?!?!

[octpusgirl8]

I took my filter (Fluval 205) apart today for a light cleaning, i was just planning on giving the sponges a little rinse and changing the carbon, and as soon as i opened it up there were snails! A bunch of them! And there were even more of what i'm assuming to be eggs, there were lots of little clear jelly-blobs on all of the surfaces inside. So i cleaned them all out and rinsed it really well with hot water (i sent the snails down the garbage disposal in my sink, i didn't know what else to do but i feel bad about it) and put it all back together.
So what i'm wondering is, what do i do? Do snails do anything useful, like eat nasties that i don't want in my water? I guess there's no snails in the tank itself because Turtley's been eating them, but wouldn't i be seeing eggs in the tank? Or maybe they like the filter for some reason, because it's dark maybe. Is there anything i can do to discourage snail procreation, or am i going to have snails untill i get a new tank and filter eventually?
I know this isn't a big deal at all (i hope not at least!) but i just cleaned the filter 2 weeks ago and there wasn't a snail to be found, so this took me by suprise.

[BullDog]

Have you given Turtley some aquatic plants recently? Usually they hitch rides on plants bought from a petstore. I've got a tank full of snails. It started as just 3, and they just went nuts. Fortunatly, so far I've managed to keep them out of my turtle tank. I think a good cleaning is a first step to getting rid of snails. Many people will suggest cleaning the tank + filter and letting it dry out completely. See if in a week or two you're still finding snails/eggs in the filter, and if you are, you may want to give an even more thorough clean.

[octpusgirl8]

I have a few plants in there, but they've been there for over a month, which is why it seems wierd that all of the sudden i have snails. I'm sure that's where they came from, it's just weird that all of the sudden they are all over my filter.

[SpotsMama]

It's puzzeling that you went from no snails to a snail population explosion in just two weeks. I wonder what did it? It's a little scary for me because I've had some snails in my filter for quite a while now. Like Turtley, Spot eats the ones in the tank, but in the filter there are always a few. I just rinse them off and they've never been a problem. Did you change anything in Turtley's food or his water treatment?

[DavidY]

Many snails are pelagic (free swimming) when they first hatch. They're probably microscopic in size so if the place you got the plants from had a lot of snail larvae swimming in the water and you put that water with the plants into your turtle tank, it would then make sense that you would start to see them when they finally settle down and start growing their shells a few weeks later.

It's never a good idea to put any of the water from the pet store into your aquarium because of chemicals, parasites, etc.

[Spookster]

Yeah and good luck getting rid of them. Our tank got overrun before we moved here to Iowa. The week long trip in the moving truck and the subzero temperatures killed them off finally. But of course as soon as we put another aquatic plant in from the pet store they are back and overrunning the tank again.

[DavidY]

I get my plants from Petco and have never had a snail problem.

[marisa]

I get some of my plants from Petco as well. There are always some snails on them.

[alexis_906]

I havn't accidently gotten snails before (we bought 3) but I have accidently bred them. We had to start scrapping the eggs off the side/top of our fish tank. They are worse then rabbits. I like having them around though, the only thing is they eat plants and veggies faster then your turtles might. Especially at night when they seem to be more active.

[octpusgirl8]

Well i rinsed the plants before i put them in, and i didn't put in the water that came with them (i got them at Petsmart). I haven't changed anything as far as his diet or water either. So it's a mystery i suppose. As long as it won't hurt him to eat any snails he may find in there i can handle it.
Oh, the other thing is that i put some plants from the same time/place into my goldfish tank and there's no snails there either. Could they have came in with the feeder fish? If snails go through a pelagic phase then they could have come in the water with the feeders i guess...ugh. It makes cleaning the filter a bit more unpleasant.

[DavidY]

That's probably where they came from then, the feeder fish water. Well, it's free munchies for your turtles!

[octpusgirl8]

So it's ok for him to be eating them? I was kinda worried because the snail's shells are gravel-sized and i was thinking that if he ate a belly full of them he might get all blocked up. Maybe i worry too much. I'm sure he enjoys searching them out and eating them up.

[DavidY]

The shells are easier to crush and will mostly break down during digestion, so it shouldn't be a problem, especially if he's only getting a few at a time.

[marisa]

The shells provide a little added calcium.

[octpusgirl8]

Awesome, thanks guys!